Who's News: Eva Mendes, James Badge Dale and more!

Citizen Kane and Casablanca top many people's lists of favorite movies. But for Eva Mendes? Anchorman. So she was thrilled when director Adam McKay wrote a part for her in his buddycop comedy, The Other Guys, playing Will Ferrell's former Knicks dancer/doctor/chef wife. "Basically, she saves lives during the day, she's hot as hell, and she makes sure she has a six-course meal waiting for her husband," says Mendes, 36, who took improv acting classes for the role.

James Badge Dale's career as an actor is heating up (he stars in AMC's Rubicon, premiering Sunday, and has three films in the works), but he reveals he dreams about something a little cooler, literally: ice hockey. "Hockey is a rough game," says Dale, 32, "but it's also beautiful. " He "took hockey as far as I could take it" before settling into the theater program at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y. "I remember losing games, and everyone was so bummed out. I'd be sitting there secretly smiling inside because it was just the drama of the game. . . . It was a live performance. It's the same feeling I now get when I come off stage."

What is actor James Franco up to these days?

Monica Reboca, Fremont, Calif.

What isn't he up to these days? In between shooting Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts and jetting to Utah to tackle 127 Hours, the true story of trapped mountaineer Aron Ralston, Franco has appeared on 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live and General Hospital. "Why not just do the projects that I'm interested in?" says Franco, 32, who simultaneously juggled graduate degrees at three New York universities. The scholarly star is packing his bags for Yale this fall, where he'll pursue a joint Ph.D. in English and film studies.

What can you tell me about actress Archie Panjabi on CBS's The Good Wife?

Susie Faulds, Dodge City, Kan.

Fans will recognize Panjabi, 38, from 2002's Bend It Like Beckham and 2007's A Mighty Heart. But the British actress is enjoying her first recurring role on a U.S. television series, The Good Wife, in which she plays the law firm detective Kalinda Sharma. Panjabi tells us that the move she made last summer from London to New York, where The Good Wife is filmed, was easy. "I feel like I moved from one home to another," the actress says.

Brittany Snow has been a favorite of mine, but I haven't heard anything about her in a long time. Is she still working?

Jeanne S. Mullins, San Jose

Snow has been plenty busy. The actress, 24, will play the assistant of Kathy Bates, a newly unemployed lawyer who is looking for a fresh start in life, in the NBC midseason drama Harry's Law. "Kathy Bates is amazing. She is so inspiring and talented," Snow tells us. Snow also just wrapped 96 Minutes, about four people brought together by an act of violence. The indie drama is expected to be released next year.

My favorite commercial is the National Car Rental ad starring John McEnroe. Is the young car salesman John McEnroe's son?

M. Haverstick, Beech Grove, Ind.

The two do resemble each other, but it's all good acting, a representative for National Car Rental tells us. The St. Louis ad agency Cannonball cast actor Adam Mayfield from a pool of auditions in Los Angeles. Mayfield, a native of Texas, has since moved on to Pine Valley on All My Children, playing Scott Chandler.